Window Horses

Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming

Thursday 07 September 7:30pm

Director's Biography
Director's Biography
Ann Marie Fleming is an independent Asian-Canadian filmmaker, writer, and visual artist. She was born in Okinawa, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, in 1962 and is of Chinese and Australian parentage. She is also the great-granddaughter of the Chinese magician, acrobat and vaudeville performer Long Tack Sam and is perhaps best known for the animated biographical film, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (2003), which won Best Documentary at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Victoria Independent Film Festival.[1] She has her own animation company, Sleepy Dog Films, and is currently working on her next animated feature film, Window Horses (2016).

Synopsis

Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she’d rather go to Paris. She lives at home with her over-protective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians who tell her stories that force her to confront her past: the Iranian father she assumed abandoned her and the nature of poetry itself. The film is about building bridges between cultural and generational divides. It’s about being curious, staying open and finding your own voice through the magic of poetry.

The film’s voice actors include Sandra Oh (Rosie), Ellen Page (Kelly, Rosie’s best friend), Don McKellar (a young poet named Dietmar), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Mehrnaz, a professor at the University of Tehran) and Nancy Kwan (Gloria, Rosie’s overprotective grandmother). More than a dozen animators, including Kevin Langdale, Janet Perlman, Bahram Javaheri and Jody Kramer, worked on the film with Fleming.

Festivals

  • OFFICIAL SELECTION TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2016
  • BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM and BEST CANADIAN FILM VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2016
  • JURY PRIZE-FEATURE FILM BUCHEON INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2016
  • AUDIENCE AWARD ANIMASYROS-INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL AND FORUM 2016
  • CENTENNIAL BEST CANADIAN FILM AWARD REEL ASIAN 2016
  • INDEPENDENT COMPETITION SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
  • ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC – ORIGINAL SCORE SELECTION CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS 2017
  • BEST SCREENWRITER/BEST CANADIAN SCREENPLAY – Ann-Marie Fleming VANCOUVER FILM CRITICS CIRCLE 2017
  • BEST PICTURE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF ONLINE FILM CRITICS
  • OFFICIAL SELECTION HOLLAND ANIMATION FILM FESTIVAL 2017
  • HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD / NARRATIVE FEATURES COMPETITIONRIVERRUN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
  • BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMJULIEN DUBUQUE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
  • AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERNASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL 2017
  • BEST FEATURESTUTTGART FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED FILM 2017

Production Team

Director
Ann Marie Fleming
Country
Canada
Runtime 
90 min
Language
English & Persian with English Subtitles
Premiere Status 
Classification 
18+
Year
2016
Screenwriter 
 Ann Marie Fleming
Producer
Sandra Oh, Ann Marie Fleming, Shirley Vercruysse, Michael Fukushima
Animation
 Kevin Langdale,
Editor
 Ann Marie Fleming, Ileana Pietrobruno, Jean-Denis Rouette
Cast
Sandra Oh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Payman Maadi, Ellen Page, Omid Abtahi

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